The present invention relates to a locking system for doors of thin-walled control-cabinets with a base member to be fastened to the door blade wherein the base member has supported therein a pinion as well as short locking rods driven by the pinion and guided in the base member. The short locking rods have a respective projection projecting away from the base member for engaging at least one locking rod mounted at the inner side of the door blade and moveable in the longitudinal direction. An exterior cover covering the base member is mounted to the exterior side of the door blade and fastened to the base member. The pinion acts as a locking rod drive and is rotated by an actuator that is received in the exterior cover.
An individual locking system with the aforementioned features is disclosed in French Patent Document FR 2 582 711. The known locking system is designed exclusively for actuation of a pinion by a turn knob. The pinion is mounted within a base member attached to the exterior side of the door blade. An exterior cover can be placed onto the base member and can be connected to the base member.
An individual rod locking system of the aforementioned kind is also described in European Patent Document EP 0 261 267. The known rod locking system is comprised of a member positioned on the exterior side of the door blade and embodied similar to a lock cover or embodied as a depression for receiving a pivot lever in a flush arrangement. The member penetrates the door blade at least via one correlated cutout. At the inner side of the door blade a lock box with a pinion arranged therein is provided for driving at least one locking rod. The lock box is connected to a projection of the member which penetrates the door blade. The attachment and the lock box are thus together attached to the door blade. When the locking system is embodied as a pivot lever locking system, the member mounted on the exterior side of the door blade penetrates the door blade with a second projection. This second projection is adapted to receive a locking device for the pivot lever when folded into the depression of the attachment.
The prior art as represented by the aforementioned Patent Documents FR 2 582 711 and EP 0261 267 have the disadvantage that the different actuating and mounting systems of the two essentially known locking systems are not exchangeable. While the use of a turn knob as disclosed in FR 2 582 711 allows direct access onto the pinion mounted within the base member, the transmission of the rotational movement of the pivot lever in the known rod locking system of EP 0 261 267 requires the arrangement of a separate lock box.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a locking system with the aforementioned features in which exchange of the different actuators is possible without changing the basic design of the locking system.
According to the present invention it is suggested that the base member is plate-shaped and designed for receiving different types of actuators such as grips, socket keys, or pivot levers. It can be directly attached to the exterior side or the inner side of the door blade. The exterior cover of the locking system is embodied as a lock cover plate with an opening for insertion of the actuator for actuating the pinion supported in the base member. The actuator can be embodied as a grip or socket key or, in the alternative, as a pivot lever which can be placed into a depression at the exterior cover, wherein the exterior cover has an opening aligned with the lock receiving chamber of the plate-shaped base member. The exterior cover is exchangeably mounted on the base member.
According to the present invention, the plate-shaped base member is of identical design for all different embodiments of the invention and requires no adaptation to the desired actuation principle, while it is flexible with regard to its attachment, i.e., it can be mounted to the exterior side or the inner side of the door blade. The embodiment of the locking system with adaptation of the respective exterior cover to the respectively desired actuator provides in an advantageous manner a free design choice of the exterior cover, especially with respect to the embodiment of the lock cover plate as well as with respect to the embodiment of a depression for a folding pivot lever. When the exterior cover is designed for receiving a grip or socket key as an actuator, the exterior cover, embodied as a lock cover plate and provided with an opening allowing access to the pinion mounted within the plate-shaped base member, covers the receiving chamber for insertion of a lock provided within the plate-shaped base member because such a lock embodiment is not necessary for a grip or socket key-type actuation. In an advantageous manner, the base member can be of unchanged design with respect to all its functional parts and can simply be redesigned such that a flat lock cover plate is provided. When the exterior cover has a depression for receiving a foldable pivot lever, the design is based on the already known concept that the lock for locking the pivot lever in the folded position is stationary within the depression. In this design the exterior cover is provided with an opening that is aligned with the receiving chamber of the plate-shaped base member that receives the lock.
For an exterior cover which is provided with a depression for the pivot lever, the opening which is aligned with the receiving chamber for the lock, is provided with a moveably guided cover. This cover can be embodied as a roll cover that is slidable within the exterior cover and is matched to the contour of the exterior cover.
In order to allow for multiple mounting variations of the plate-shaped base member, it is suggested that the base member is provided with a plurality of fastening throughbores at the contact locations at the door blade. This allows to arrange the plated-shaped base member in a position that corresponds to the cutout of the door blade, respectively, allows attachment thereof at the door blade with respect to preventing vandalism.
According to one embodiment of the invention, one of the short locking rods guided in the plate-shaped base member is provided with a bent or angled portion such that the projections of both short locking rods are aligned with one another. This has the advantage that, when mounting the locking system to the exterior side of the door blade, only one continuous slot must be arranged in the door blade so that the aligned projections of the rod locking system can be used in connection with very narrow spaces with already aligned locking rods.